Sunday, October 25, 2015

Fall is upon us, and with fall comes
Halloween treats, and everything pumpkin flavor. I am very much one for
everything Halloween, the pumpkin carving, haunted houses, and the caramel
apples. (Vegan of course!)

One of my all time favorite things
this time of the year are the pumpkins, and what’s inside of them! I love
pumpkin seeds, as does my family, and a batch of them never makes it around to
the next day in our house. They’re super simple and easy to make, so I thought
I’d share my version of them!

Ingredients you’ll need:

1 pumpkin

1 tspn dill

1/2 tspn sea salt

First, cut open your pumpkin and
scrape out all of the seeds. Then wash
them off really well and put them in a bowl; make sure the seeds are still damp,
and slimy!

Toss the dill and the sea salt in, and then mix with the pumpkin seeds
until they’re all covered. I usually sprinkle in a little more dill at this
point if there’s not enough, also just because I love the dill flavoring!

Once
they’re coated, toss them on a pan and spread evenly. Then throw into the oven at 300°F for
about 10 minutes. For a more crunchier seed, put them in at 250°F for a little
while longer so that they have time to really dry out.

Then take them out (put
in a festive fall bowl if you have one!) and ENJOY!

Sunday, October 18, 2015

So
who cares about going vegan? What’s the point of it; why not just eat what you
feel like eating, when you feel like eating it?

Going
into a bit about me, why am I vegan? All vegans have their own reasons, be it
for health, ethical, moral, cultural, religious, or dietary reasons, we all do
it for ourselves one reason or another. For me personally, it’s because I don’t
have to eat meat, you don’t have to kill animals, you don’t need another being
in order to survive. I haven’t always been vegan, about ten years now almost,
so what made me go vegan? What led me to this passionate path of compassion, of
which I hope others will join me?

I do want to preface that the
following videos are disturbing and hard to watch, but please do watch with an
open mind, and an open heart.

I want to follow this with your
first feeling right after the videos ended. Why do you feel this way? Did you
understand it? Was it new to you? It’s difficult to think that the chicken or
steak on your plate has been thoroughly tortured before making it to your
stomach. It’s a cruel industry that has done an unbelievable job at keeping
these things behind closed doors and cages.

It’s hard to believe what you
can’t see, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t true, or that they don’t happen.
I get that many vegans seem to preach their lifestyle, but there’s nothing
wrong with sharing your knowledge and opening these doors to others who would
otherwise remain oblivious and unaware.

This post isn’t to
be that cliché lifestyle preaching vegan, but more to only shed light on what
we can’t see, and to bring to light these dark corners of this industry.